W3C,
I was suprised to see that you're considering allowing patented technology
encumbered with fees to be considered for adoption in standards. It's
clearly against the efforts of open protocols and open source to bow to the
desires of companies to this degree. If companies want their patented
technology to be adopted in standards, they must grant free licenses to that
technology. They still have substantial advantages over competitors
(including free software) because their world view and technology is being
adopted. There's no need to pay them fees on top of that advantage!
W3C becomes less and less relevant as it becomes more and more a vendor
consortium. Model yourselves after the IETF and retain (regain?) your
stature.
-glenn
Glenn Crocker
Netmud http://www.netmud.com
913-451-7785, glenn@netmud.com